Tyranny of King Washington episode 3: Redemption

It’s that time again; the final chapter of the Tyranny of King Washington story has been released; so here is the review and story overview of this tale.

Story

The episode begins where it left off; Connor and the group are heading for New York City to attack Washington head on. As they get closer; one of the crew spots some ships coming their way, Connor takes control of the ship and uses its vast power to easily overwhelm the Washington ships.

Connor sends the Aquila into the Man of War

One of the wrecked ships still has some of its flags intact; so the crew of the Aquila pull them aboard and set them atop so they can sneak through the minefield and through to New York itself. As they do; Connor talks about how sailing is in his blood, his grandfather being Edward Kenway, a pirate and the main protagonist in Assassin’s Creed IV (nice little reference for what is to come later this year). They manage to sneak through the minefield unharmed and attack the ships there; however they are vastly outnumbered by them and the Aquila is badly damaged. Connor makes the rest of the crew jump overboard; whilst he steers the ship into the Man of War to buy them some time.

Washington finds Franklin

The ships collide and Connor manages to make his escape; on land Franklin has washed up on shore and is a bit disorientated as to where he is; he wonders further into the city but is found by Washington himself; he calls for help and tells him that he won’t be controlled anymore. Kanen’to:kon suddenly appears to help Franklin; he knocks Washington off his horse, causing him to drop the Sceptre; whilst Franklin hides. He takes on numerous guards, throwing his tomahawk and managing to take a few out and eventually goes after Washington, he begins to plead with Kanen’to:kon but more guards appear and shoot him to hell; causing him to finally be killed.

Kanen'to:kon killed

Washington stands up and is given the sceptre before vanishing back to his Pyramid. Connor finally washes up on shore and sees Franklin crying over his friend’s body; but Connor does not show any regard for his friend’s death and grabs the tea of the great willow in order to seek guidance from the spirit animals once again.

Image of his mother appears again

Connor appears in the dream world again; but as he enters the large visage of his mother asks him what he is doing there again and how she is disappointed that he would ignore her warnings. Connor journeys through; ignoring his mothers ramblings and comes across a enormous bear with four spears sticking out of it. Using the powers of the Eagle; he is able to get to these spears and pull them out; one at a time. The bear being grateful for his; gives Connor his powers, allowing him to slam down and cause a large shockwave.

The Bear

Awakening; Franklin is shocked to see Connor’s eyes are black and wants to know what has happened, but this is short lived as they hear of fighting going on at the Pyramid and go to aid them. Connor heads inside the grounds and meets Thomas Jefferson; who has risen up with the Red Coats to take down Washington. 

Connor and Jefferson meet

Jefferson is thankful for the help and asks that Connor aid them further; by destroying the gates to the Barracks and also breaking open the gate so they can all make their escape. With his new powers; Connor deals with the situation quickly and escapes with the rest of the Red Coat army. The Pyramid shakes and Washington is furious at this; he wants to know what is happening and learns that the people are attacking; he becomes angrier at this situation saying ‘I have given myself to the cause of Freedom; do they not see?’

Angry Washington

The army escapes and Connor falls on the floor with little energy; Jefferson helps him up and asks what his name is. He then explains they are scattering and will join up later; if he wouldn’t mind joining in with the plans to take down Washington.

Connor targets Fitz Williams

Connor eventually meets up with Jefferson; who explains that the people have no food; the man who is supposed to distribute it is making the people pay; John Fitz Williams. Connor does not understand the need of the people; but Jefferson explains that they will never take him down without the support of the people. Connor agrees and begins to follow him to his stores of food and kills him without hesitation; he comes across a poor worker who he asks for his assistance in getting the food to the people.

With great difficulty due to Blue Coat ambushes; they manage to get back to the Harbour and distribute the food amongst the people; they are eternally grateful for what they have done and now support Thomas Jefferson in his cause.

Angry Jefferson

Connor meets up with Jefferson and learns that his friend Paul Ravere and his family have vanished. Connor decides to take up his work in rallying the people and says ‘this country will soon have a new leader’, Jefferson is shocked by this and argues that the country must be run by the people. Connor remains silent and begins his work; by hanging guards, killing captains, beating the truth out of announcers and helping the rebels he manages to start to cause unrest.

Washington addressing the people

So much so that it causes issues with Washington; he decides to address the citizens of New York; Connor and Franklin watch from a distance as he begins to shout about taking care of the British once and for all as they are the true enemy; he will use his vast Armada to destroy them quickly and without hesitation.

However; continuing with his mission, Connor manages to cause so much unrest amongst the people that they now fight for Liberty; which was Washington’s original cause. They begin to fight back against the blue coat army.

The people fight back

Jefferson and Connor begin a new plot; they are to attack the Blue Coats stores and destroy their gunpowder; as well as giving a signal in order to attack the Pyramid head on; causing issues for Washington. Connor frees members of the rebellion in order to get them to help him take down the tower; this a simple task with the abilities of the Eagle and the Bear. Connor sets the torch alight and then breaks the base of the tower with the power of the Bear; this gives the signal to the Red Coats to attack the courtyard and take it over.

Connor's mother escaping the Pyramid

Using the opportunity to its fullest advantage; Connor enters the Pyramid and gathers clues; that point to his mother entering and running off with the sceptre; he uses his senses and begins to backtrack his mothers footsteps in order to find where Washington is hiding. It turns out that his mother managed to get the Sceptre but Putnam shot it off her back right at the last second; but it was far too late and she had to escape.

Connor and Washington argue

Connor journey’s through the Pyramid and manages to get to Washington who is positioned on top of it awaiting Connor’s arrival. They begin to speak and Washington begins to claim that he is not mad; he is just doing what is right and that Connor wants the Apple for himself; Connor dismisses this and says that he works for the good of the people; but Washington does not agree; they begin to fight as they had done before.

Connor seeing his true self sat on the throne

Using all of his powers; Connor manages to weaken Washington slightly; but the only way he can truly defeat Washington is by destroying the stain glass window they are stood on. The two men begin to fall and slam into the throne room below. Washington grabs the apple and sits in his throne by ends up dying there and then due to the impact. Connor stands up in pain and begins to walk to the throne; it begins to shift backwards as he gets closer; with visages of people he knows appearing and asking him not to take it. Kanen’to:kon, his mother and then the last is Connor himself; who demands he take the apple now. He does so and suddenly the game switches back to the real world.

Washington gives Connor the Applie

It appears that Connor was inside Washington’s nightmare after all; he begins to try and calm a very nervous Washington down into giving him the apple and eventually he does; demanding that Connor throw it into the sea.

Wahington beats his nightmares

It begins to switch between events that occur after what has happened; Connor is aboard the Aquila heading out to the ocean to throw the apple into its depths. Whilst Washington is doing paperwork in his office; one of his generals walks in and begins to talk to him about Washington taking his role as king and that the people need such a strong leader; but Washington dismisses this; he begins to argue back that the people need freedom; they should not be enslaved and should be allowed to do as they will; he asks the man to forget this horrible thought but the man has vanished and Washington has overcome his nightmares.

Connor finally gets rid of the apple and asks that the man at the helm set a course back for home; as the credits begin to roll.

Connor heads home

Gameplay

Nothing has really changed since episode two; however this one is much worse for the blue coat syndrome. With it being the main capital of the game and Washington’s main fortress; New York is overrun with Blue Coats as expected; however this is once again very annoying as it forces you to either fight in long drawn out battles as more and more Blue coats show up; or have extremely long chase sequences even with the eagle power as there are hardly any hiding places. This made it more difficult to actually complete the chapter; not in terms of difficulty but in terms of just trying to have a look around; then being spotted instantly.

The wolf cloak would often wear off for no reason and Connor sent into another fight or Connor would be spotted in the wolf cloak. Another issue was being spotted through walls by Blue Coats; which made it even more annoying.

The player still has the option to do the four extra missions to help civilians; three are the same, give food, save the civilian and stop the slave convoy; however another was introduced where you defend the civilian. They will fight with you and you have to protect all of them from dying; which the player only has to do three times.

There are still numerous chests in this episode; giving you basic items to new weapons such as Washington’s Replica Sword; and once again the three lucid artefacts are back. This time they depict

1. Connor being hung
2. Connor and Haythum fighting
3. Desmond touching the device

This time with the Lucid memory; the player is shown Washington and Connor talking, Connor asks for him to relinquish the Apple but Washington is weary due to the nightmares; Connor manages to settle him down and places his hand on the apple. This causes him to go into Washington’s nightmare in the first place.

 

Connor touches the Apple

New Mechanics

The Bear Power

Like with parts one and two; the final mechanic introduced to this is the Bear spirit animal. Using its power; Connor can slam down on the ground; which in turn causes a ripple effect knocking enemies flying. This again uses a piece of the health bar to keep it from being overused.

This can also be done as a running attack; by running then pressing the activation button, Connor will jump and slam down. This is useful in a situation where you have to run into a crowd but it can be annoying if you forget it is there; as in instances where you are running from the enemy and you press it you’ll launch and waste the attack.

The Bear attack can also be used as an assassination; Connor will jump and slam down as usual, sending enemies around him in different directions; but it also does a swipe attack when it hits the intended target; killing them instantly. This attack can kill civilians as well.

Overall Scores

Story 8/10 – A brilliant finish to the story and helps understand everything clearly; the ending was ok but it could have been so much better than a ‘let’s go home’ scenario

Gameplay 7/10 – Whilst the bear was fun to use; it wasn’t as necessary as the other two and the guards chasing you constantly was a big hindrance and a grind than it should have been.

Injustice: Gods Among us review and Story overview

WARNING: this review/overview covers the whole story so many spoilers are shown; don't read if you don't want it spoiled 

As a big fan of the Mortal Kombat series; this game was a must to purchase and review. Injustice: Gods among us; is a DC universe based fighter by Nether Realm studios; it takes elements from the latest Mortal Kombat game and adds to them with interactable environments and other things.

The game consists of a cast of 24 characters: -

Heroes: Superman, Batman, Nightwing, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Cyborg, Raven, Shazam (Captain Marvel), The Flash, Aquaman, Hawk Girl

Villains: The Joker, Lex Luthor, Death Stroke, Harley Quinn, Killer Frost, Ares, Black Adam, Sinestro, Bane, Cat Woman, Solomon Grundy, Doomsday

There are also plans for four DLC characters; the first of which is Lobo. Chances are there will be 2 heroes and 2 villains to keep the balance in the cast.

However this cast is severely divided based on events that occur; that leads to the Insurgency and the Regime.

Injustice Character select screen 

The Story

The story of Injustice; is a very dark one. The game starts with news that Metropolis has been devastated by a nuke and that 8 million are dead; Batman is sat in a room interrogating the Joker to find out where he got the nuke from, but Superman comes bursting through the wall and begins to push the Joker up against the wall. It turns out the Joker had drugged Superman and caused him to blow up the nuke; killing those millions, including Lois and his unborn son.

The Joker uses his usual charm and angers Superman even more; Batman tries to calm him down but he is knocked back. Completely enraged; Superman kills the Joker by punching his hand straight through his chest.

Superman pinning the Joker against the wall 

This is where the story properly begins as a 12 chapter story; each chapter the player uses a different character. Each Chapter consists of 4 battles and a few cut scenes

Chapter 1 – Batman

Fights: Death Stroke, Bane, Lex Luthor, the Joker

After witnessing the previous events; a message appears on the screen saying ‘Elsewhere’; the player is then shown a scene of heroes fighting against the villains in different areas; Metropolis and Watch Tower; as Batman journeys to find the Joker. He arrives at Arkham Asylum and receives messages from Nightwing who is battling on the Watch Tower with Cyborg; but he has to check if the Joker is still there. Arriving at his cell; he notices a trip wire that he uses a freeze spray to get rid of; there are many bombs in cell but the real danger is behind him; when Death Stroke appears to try and kill him. Winning easily over him; Batman heads straight for the watch tower to help out Nightwing and Cyborg; he manages to take down Bane and Luthor with ease and places a device on him so his mech is useless. The alarm begins to sound as the Joker and Harley are in downtown Metropolis with a nuke that Luthor had given him. Batman raises the alarm and gets the others to go down and try and stop him as he heads down himself. 

Heroes rush the Joker but they vanish

Joker slaps Harley and makes her get out of the way; whilst he takes the nuke off standby to worry Batman; they argue and the Joker begins to go to press the button as Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and the Flash try to stop him. As they slowly move towards him; Batman, Aquaman, Joker, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and Lantern, begin to emit a strange lightning energy before they all disappear.

Batman and the Joker appear in a destroyed Metropolis as the Joker continues to try and press the button. Batman takes out the Joker before they are surrounded by strange armoured troops that have come to take him down; using a supersonic sound blast and a smoke bomb he manages to escape; as well as the Joker. He goes on the roof of a building and overhears the troops talking about how they’ve taken down many heroes for their boss.

Batman listens in to what's going on

Chapter 2 – Green Lantern

Fights: Raven, Cyborg, Sinestro, Yellow Lantern

The chapter begins with the other heroes stood on a roof top in Gotham. They begin to talk as to what has happened and wonder if it was a time slip or an alternate dimension; Wonder Woman and Green Arrow volunteer to do some recognisance around the area; whilst Aquaman goes to Atlantis to see if there is any news of what has happened in this world. Green Lantern decides to go to the closest recharge point and be ready to come back fully charged. 

 

Raven and Cyborg torturing Death Stroke

Arriving at his destination he overhears voices behind a door. As he opens it he sees Death Stroke tied to a bench with Raven and Cyborg stood over him torturing him for not joining them; as a hero Green Lantern intervenes in this. Cyborg comments on how he has gone back to being green; to which Raven points out that he is Hal Jordan and yet he is not Hal Jordan. She manages to incapacitate him with her powers and Cyborg mentions that they will be taking him to the high council but he manages to break free using his ring; knocking out Cyborg. He manages to take down raven easily and asks a now awakened Cyborg who the high council is but he won’t give any answers and the Green Lantern takes him out. He uses his ring to break Death Stroke free and asks him what he knows but is interrupted by Wonder Woman calling him back as Sinestro is there.

Green Lantern meets Yellow Lantern

He turns around to see Death Stroke has escaped but he has no time and heads back to protect Green Arrow and Wonder Woman from Sinestro’s powers. Sinestro mentions that ‘he would be happy to see Green Arrow die again’ before Lantern turns up and uses his ring powers to weaken Sinestro; he mentions that he joined with the high council as they have similar goals before explaining that Hal Jordan of this world had joined their side. Lantern takes out sinestro and goes to check on his friends; at which point Hal Jordan appears but with a Yellow Ring; he tells Green Lantern that there is so much more power in fear and begins to fight. It doesn’t take long for the Green Lantern to beat the Yellow Lantern and they make their escape when sirens start to sound.

Going around a few back allies they come into contact with this worlds Batman; then the player is shown a scene of the main dimensions Flash, Cyborg and Superman as they try to figure out how to get their friends back from this alternate universe.

Chapter 3 – Aquaman

Fights: Shazam, the Flash, Aquaman, Ares

Aquaman arrives in Atlantis and talks to the keeper of the records to find out what has been happening in this dimension; the keeper mentions that Superman is sending his envoys for negotiations with Aquaman. He tricks the keeper by saying he wants a review of the situation for signing the treaty. He learns that after the death of Lois and metropolis; Superman reined in his power and made the Regime to keep threats under check so nothing like that would ever happen again; but overall became bitter and twisted due to these results and his grief about losing Lois and his unborn child.

Aquaman looks over the treaty

A guard appears to tell him that Superman’s envoys are in the throne room with the treaty. When he enters he sees the Flash and Shazam who give him the treaty to have a look at before he signs it; Aquaman learns that Atlantis would undergo complete subjugation and the army would be under Superman’s control. Outraged Aquaman refuses this; the Flash and Shazam are confused by this and threaten Aquaman; which was a mistake as he takes them both out.

 

Aquaman talking to Ares

At this point this dimensions Aquaman walks in and asks the guards to seize him for being an imposter; but Aquaman makes short work of the troops that are sent at him as he trained all of them and knows their moves. The two Aquman’s fight and more guards walk in to stop him; until Ares stops time and shows up. With his reputation; Aquaman beats him easily and realises he is weak to there being no confrontation in the world; it is all under one rule. Ares explains to Aquaman that a lot of the people who stood up to Superman are dead and those that aren’t joined in; a lot of villains loyalty was bought so that they could rule easily over Superman’s enemies; Aquaman asks for Ares to send him to his allies who are with the Insurgence and soon is on his way.

He appears with his allies as Green Arrow is about to swallow a pill; that this worlds Batman reveals to be Kriptonian Nanotech; it tenses the muscles and durability of the person who swallows it. It is assumed that it was given to the Green Arrow as he is not super powered like Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Batman explains that all of Superman’s men have taken these pills so they are harder to take down.

 

Discussion on the plan of action

Lex Luthor walks in as a meeting starts to take place to the shock of the heroes; he explains that he is Superman’s best friend but he has been funding the Insurgency to help get these four heroes across to this dimension and explains that they have been monitoring the other dimension; especially those 4 to open a special vault in the bat cave to obtain a Kriptonian weapon that will take down Superman just to knock him out; but he needs the four heroes DNA to unlock the vault.

A cut scene occurs in the fortress of Solitude; where Superman is working on a device with a very calm Doomsday stood behind him. Wonder Woman; wearing an extremely seductive outfit appears to the busy Superman and tells him that Hal Jordan has arrived; but she is feeling a bit neglected as Superman’s new woman and tells him she isn’t trying to replace Lois. She leaves and Hal Jordan as the Yellow Lantern arrives and explains that he saw another Hal Jordan and the others. This raises some concern with Superman as he orders the Yellow Lantern to go out and find them.

Superman learns of the doppelgänger's

Chapter 4 – The Joker

Fights: Batman, Harley Quinn, Hawk Girl, Nightwing

The chapter starts off with the Joker in Gotham city looking for his old gang; as he looks around, Batman jumps down but the Joker kicks him and injures his leg. The weakened Batman is easily taken out by the Joker; he sees Hawkgirl and the Yellow Lantern in the sky and hides; leaving Batman to be taken away by these two “Heroes”. Laughing at this misfortune he waits for them to disappear.  

 

Batman captured by the Regime

The scene changes back to the Fortress of Solitude; where Superman is testing the device on Doomsday’s collar to make him obey. Yellow Lantern calls to tell him to tell him that they have captured Batman and they fly off with the now unconscious Batman.

The Joker continues to remember what he was actually doing before all this; at which point Harley Quinn turns up to the surprise of the Joker. She tells him that her name is Harline and holds a shotgun to him and begins to question why someone is going around as the Joker causing trouble and thinks he is not really the Joker. She fights him only to realise that he is in fact the Joker; and gets extremely happy that he’s alive again; she tells him to follow her as there are people that would want to see him.

Another scene begins where Superman and Wonder Woman come to visit the caged Batman; he scans him with his senses and realises this isn’t the right Batman and demands to know why he is here.

The Joker stands on a stage in Arkham Asylum as he begins to reveal in the joys of his gang; giving a big speech about Superman killing the people in Metropolis and that they could go on a mass crime wave using the pills that Green Arrow had taken before. He swallows it and Supermans regime troops burst through the room with Hawkgirl and Nightwing. Harley presses a button with the Bat Symbol on it; whilst Hawkgirl and the Joker fight each other. Nightwing sees this and goes to help but the Joker weakens him with exploding cards and eventually takes out him as well; at which point they escape and Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow and Lantern appear to help.

 

Harley questioned as to why the Joker is there

Harley thanks Batman for the help and the Joker walks over making his usual jokes as he does; but he is interrupted by Wonder Woman wanting to know how he got over; and Batman asks why Harley brought him here. Aquaman and the others guess that Batman came with them and want to know where he is; telling them that he has been captured. They start to head over to Wayne Manor and asks Harley to stay low as they are now targets and locks the Joker up. 

A brief scene is shown where Superman, Flash and Cyborg of the main dimension figure out the others are in another dimension and that they can use Flash’s cosmic treadmill to use the right frequency to open up the gate and bring them home.

Chapter 5 – Green Arrow

Fights: Solomon Grundy, Killer Frost, Wonder Woman, Black Adam

The chapter starts with a small scene of Lex Luthor and Death Stroke talking on top of a building in Gotham; Death Stroke finally joins up with the Insurgency after the Regime made it personal to him.

The rest of the group arrive at Wayne Manor; that is completely shielded off; so that no one can get in. It is mostly a wreck due to superman revealing Batman’s identity and freezing all Waynetech’s assets; Batman finally reveals what happened on the day of the nuke exploding. Somehow the Joker had altered Superman’s mind to make him think that Lois was Doomsday; the Joker linked the Nuke’s trigger to Lois’s heartbeat; so that when she and the baby died, the rest of Metropolis went with them. The group are shocked at this and are not surprised Superman has done what he’s done; with him being vulnerable; Batman says that this dimensions Oliver Queen died trying to explain that to Superman; to which the main dimension Oliver Queen is a bit taken back by.

Lantern blasted back by Killer Frost

Breaking through the shield; the group split up. Aquaman goes with Batman and Green Arrow, Lantern and Wonder Woman secure the bat cave entrance in the study. Only Green Arrow can get them through it though as the automated sentries need to be taken out with the Arrows; the group enter and eventually find their way to the study. The door is extremely cold and Green Lantern tries to enter but is blasted back by Killer Frost; Wonder Woman goes after her whilst Solomon Grundy who is also in the room goes after Green Arrow. Using his evading skills; he manages to anger the huge zombie.

Using his bow he strikes at Grundy as well as objects he throws at him; he manages to eventually take him out. He shouts at Green Lantern ‘Home Run’ as Hal flies in and hits him with a large baseball bat and follows after him. Wonder Woman is busy sword fighting with Killer Frost but ends up frozen; with an explosive arrow, the Green Arrow manages to break her out and fights Killer Frost himself.

After the match; Green Lantern comes back in and tells the others that he put Grundy in orbit; Batman and Aquaman turn up and the group head off to the Bat Cave.

A scene occurs where Lex Luthor and Superman are talking about getting a scanner to tell who the duplicates are and thanks his friend for all his support; Superman asks if he thinks there is another Lois in the other dimension; to which Luthor replies, there is only one Lois.

The group arrive inside the bat cave that is completely destroyed; they wonder how Batman managed to hide something in there from Superman and explains that he injected the walls with Lead Polymer so even Superman couldn’t find it. He goes onto explain that the only way the weapon will work is if he gets the DNA of Superman’s closest allies along with Green Arrows.

Group place their hands on the DNA scanner

Green Lantern breaks open the wall and Batman raises a pedestal with a hand print scanner so they can get the case out of the large rock. At this point Wonder Woman and Black Adam turn up whilst Batman hides the case and Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Aquaman go against Black Adam. Green Arrow takes on Wonder Woman and takes her out; but whilst the others keep Black Adam at bay he uses his lightning powers to shock them all as they are all wearing some form of metal that links them together; except for the Green Arrow. Being the only one left standing he takes out Black Adam as well; but because of this blast the gun used to fire the kryptonite was damaged and they need to somehow get a new one.

Gun destroyed during the fights

Chapter 6 –  Cyborg

Fights: Death Stroke, Lex Luthor, Cat Woman, Cyborg 

The chapter starts in the main dimension where Superman, Cyborg and the Flash are attempting to bring the group back; using the Cosmic Treadmill they manage to get it to the right frequency in order to open the gate. However the energy levels begin to spike as the Flash keeps running; he tries to stop but Cyborg is sent over to the other side and into the insurgency’s base. He begins to explore and comes across Lex Luthor and Death Stroke talking about the chaos they’ve caused and how they are going to take down superman and says that it is all he needed to hear before he begins to charge them.

Cyborg overhears Luthor and Death Stroke

Death Stroke pushes Luthor out of the way and the two begin to fight with Cyborg being the victor; Lex Luthor then returns wearing his signature Mech armour and the two begin to fight with Cyborg again winning. The rest of the group walk in after hearing the fights going upstairs and they welcome him to the group and he asks to fill him in on what has happened.

The game cuts to Wonder Woman and Superman in the Bat Cave; she tells him he took a big chance in coming back to the Cave and wants to know why; Superman places his hand in container that Batman kept the gun in and is weakened by fragments of the Kryptonite that was in there. He begins to panic and realises he has to flush the group out as quickly as possible.

Superman makes a speech to the world

It returns back to the Insurgency hideout; where Cyborg suggests they go to their dimension and fix the optical laser on the weapon there and return with reinforcements; however Batman enters and tells them it’ll have to wait as Superman has just made an announcement that Batman was the one to blame for the explosion five years ago and now he is being put to Justice and will be executed at 6pm on Strikers Island. The group begin to make a plan of what to do and Cyborg suggests they take a sneaky approach by using the watchtowers teleportation systems to get in and out of the prison and Aquaman offers to create a diversion to keep Superman outside.

Cyborg volunteers to take control of the Watchtower as he is the most qualified and can infiltrate the enemy’s defences; as he transforms into this dimensions Cyborg. Death Stroke volunteers to go with him but Cyborg refuses; however Luthor and Batman explain that the only way to get to Watch Tower is through the teleporter in the Hall of Justice and that if his cover is blown he will need someone to shadow him.

Cyborgs hack each other

They arrive and begin to tamper with the controls in order to find a way to get to the Watchtower; they exchange words as Cyborg doesn’t trust him based on their history; but Death Stroke explains they have no history. Cyborg leaves and tells him to meet him at the teleporter in 15 minutes and he goes to calibrate the teleporter; but as he does Cat Woman comes through it, he makes the mistake of saying hello to hear and she finds this strange. She begins to act like he is being distant and that they’ve had so many wild times; but this is a ploy and she manages to break the field so his true form is shown. The two of them fight and he manages to dispatch her without any issues; but as he goes back to he was doing this dimensions Cyborg appears and the two begin to hack into each other; trying to take each other apart by their coding; but the eventually decide to settle on beating each other up with the main dimensions Cyborg winning once again.

Death Stroke appears and tells Cyborg that he beat him to it and eventually lets slip that this Cyborg had tortured him. The two get into the teleporter and head on up to the Watchtower.

Chapter 7 – Death Stroke

Fights: Shazam, the Flash, Killer Frost, Wonder Woman

Death Stroke’s chapter follows directly on from what occurred at the end of Cyborgs; with them now on the Watchtower. Cyborg says he’s managed to get access to the teleporter by stealing the data from the alternate Cyborg as they were trying to hack each other; Death Stroke is impressed but starts wandering off and tells Cyborg he won’t be long.

Shazam and Flash talk about Superman's plan

In the main chamber Shazam and Flash are talking about their doubts with what Superman is doing; Death Stroke begins to plant mines in the area. Shazam is finding it difficult that Superman will kill Batman as he did with Green Arrow; Flash remains silent for a moment then realises that something is wrong. Death Stroke walks in and the two heroes try and take him down, but his mines go off and knock them down a level; Flash is knocked out but Shazam manages to stay up; but not for long as Death Stroke takes him out.

Flash awakens to see Shazam unconscious and goes to find Death Stroke who is playing with the reactor controls. Flash tries to stop him but it’s too late; they begin to fight and Death Stroke wins; he returns to Cyborg who is confused at what he’s actually done; the reactor has gone critical and they need to get out of their as soon as possible. Cyborg calls Batman and tells him that the reactor is going to blow in 90 minutes so he needs to hurry with his mission. Luthor calls the Watchtower and asks that Death Stroke go to Ferris Island to get a prototype weapon to fire the Kryptonite; Cyborg states that Batman can get it but Luthor refuses as he knows Batman will want to use it himself and he is too valuable.

Batman calls Harley and asks to get her people into position and occupy any law enforcement she can; she agrees to this. Much to the Jokers disgust but she lets him out; knowing Batman won’t like it; but Joker threatens her before leaving; Harley looks on in hatred of this Joker. The game skips back to the main dimension with Flash and Superman trying to figure out a way to open the gate; but the device is programmed to work with Cyborg’s technology.

Death Stroke gets the tech for Luthor

Wonder Woman enters Ferris Island at the request of Killer Frost; she has discovered anomalies that link to the other dimension and that the main one is in the Insurgency’s hideout; she isn’t impressed though and asks that she send the coordinates to the Flash; Killer Frost tells her she’s done and turns around to see that using his skills; Death Stroke has managed to subdue Wonder Woman with her own Lasso. He manages to take out Killer Frost; just in time for Wonder Woman to break out of her Lasso; he laughs and tells her that he won’t be beaten by Superman’s rebound girl and manages to knock her out this time. He gets to the vault; picks up the gun and asks Cyborg to send him to Luthor.

Chapter 8 – Batman

Fights: Cat Woman, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Yellow Lantern

The time has come and the group begin their assault on Strikers Island; there are many troops and Regime commanders there as they wait for the group to attack head on. However Aquaman appears with an army of large crab like creatures to take on the Regime; the army begins to attack and are unaware that Batman and Green Arrow have snuck in.

Aquaman's Assault

As they get further into the base they are attacked by Cat Woman and Nightwing; Cat Woman goes straight for Batman and tries to reason with him that she didn’t have a choice and that Superman would have killed him if she hadn’t joined him; she wants them to escape together; Batman refuses however and she begins to attack him, but she is easily taken down by him.

Father and Son

Green Arrow is still doing battle with Nightwing; wanting to know why he’d joined up with Superman as Batman was like a father to him and took him in; Batman reveals that this isn’t Dick Grason; it’s his son Damian Wayne, who had killed Dick and replaced him. As a spoilt child he begins to say Superman was more of a father to him than Batman ever was and begins to attack his father; but Batman is far more skilled and manages to easily take his son down and leaves him with the words ‘you’re dead to me’ and ties him up.

Outside; the battle is still raging on as the crab army wakes it way further up the beach. Superman goes to attack but Green Lantern knocks him flying with a large hammer into Wonder Woman’s arms; but he easily escapes and throws her towards her comrade.

As they journey further into the base they find Batman’s cell; where he is severely beaten up; the alternate Batman manages to get him free but an arrow comes flying at him. He turns around to see that the Green Arrow is being controlled by Raven and that the only way to free him is by fighting him; he easily takes him down after blocking an array of arrows and Raven appears. She goes to attack but the main Batman knocks her out cold with a blow to the back of her head.

Batman rescues Batman

The three heroes begin to make their escape; with Batman being supported by the other two. However as they leave; Yellow Lantern is knocked straight through the ceiling and the alternate Batman asks them to leave so he can deal with it; which doesn’t take him too long. Back outside; Superman is choking Wonder Woman but Aquaman interrupts by throwing his trident; Wonder Woman is then caught by a large green hand as Superman goes to deal with Aquaman.

They begin to fight with Aquaman being sent flying; Green Lantern seals Superman in a cage but he easily breaks free and flies after Lantern. Grabbing him; he nearly pulls him apart until he sees the two Batman’s and Green Arrow escaping, they await Cyborg to teleport them but it fails; they try and hold Superman talking for as long as possible and then they dive off the edge of the cliff behind them. Cyborg teleports them out and Superman realises that Watchtower has been lost; he goes up to it in a fit of rage to deal with whoever is inside but as he gets closer it explodes due to Death Strokes tampering earlier.

Knocked back and dazed; he hears Luther shout from below ‘Superman your times over’

Superman caught in the Watchtower Blast

Chapter 9 – Lex Luthor

Fights: Haryley Quinn, the Joker, Hawk Girl, Shazam

The story continues three hours earlier from the previous events; Luthor attaches the device to his mech and listens to the news of the insurgency attacking Strikers Island. He remains silent as he prepares for what he has to; he swallows one of the pills that the others have taken and seals himself inside his suit. He begins a flight over Metropolis until two missiles begin to chase him down; at the last second he activates his shield but he is knocked out of the sky and lands on one of the Regime’s trucks.

He slowly gets up in pain and asks the suit for a damage report; luckily he isn’t too badly damaged but part of it is offline. He comes into contact with the Joker and Harley; it appears that the Joker had shot him out of the sky, Luthor states that unless they want Superman to succeed they best step out of the way. Harley is confused by this as she knows they are friends, but he reveals that he has been working with the Insurgency all this time; but the Joker interrupts and asks Harley to get Luthor out of the suit. Harley goes to attack but is taken down by Luthor easily even with the damaged suit.

Harley about to kill the Joker

The Joker then fires Harley and actually attempts to kill her for being useless; she is shocked at this and Luthor steps in to save her. Angry; Harley picks up the knife and attempts to kill him as she feels like a fool for trusting him again; with all her energy she manages not to do it and promises to lock him up as long as he can get rid of Superman. The time jumps to the battle at Strikers island with the two Lanterns battling off against each other; and the Green Lantern manages to knock the Yellow through the roof; which is the point where alternate Batman fights him in the last chapter.

Green Lantern is hit by Black Adams lighting but Luthor appears and shoots both Adam and Hawkgirl; he asks Green Lantern to go and help Wonder Woman as he will handle those two. He flies off with the two Regime commanders following after him through Metropolis; using skills from the mech he manages to shoot both of them out of the sky. He lands by Hawkgirl and asks her to give him her belt but she refuses and begins to battle him. She easily loses though and he tries to take her belt; but Shazam appears and attacks him; confused as to why he’s working with the insurgency. The two fight with Luthor coming out on top.

Checking the vitals of his mech; it tells him that flight mode is offline. Suddenly there is a huge blast; Watchtower exploded, he asks his mech if there were any casualties, but thankfully all the personnel were evacuated and Superman was caught in the blast but is unharmed.

Shazam stopping Luthor at the last second

It cuts to Superman in space listening to Lex Luthor shout up to him. He readies his aim as the angry Kryptonian makes his way down to earth at high speed; he gets closer and as Luthor is about to fire; Shazam blasts him from behind with his lighting powers. Superman crash lands straight on top of his old friend; Luthor is severely injured and Superman is upset that his friend has betrayed him. He rips him out of his mech and begins to chock Luthor; using all his strength he snaps Luthor’s neck and under the pressure flies off due to all the voices shouting in his head. Shazam stands and looks up confused as to what happened.  

Superman breaks Luthor's neck 

Chapter 10 – The Flash

Fights: Yellow Lantern, Solomon Grundy, Sinestro, Green Arrow

After the events of the last chapter; the Regime are holding a meeting as to what they will do next about the duplicates; Superman feeling betrayed about what Luthor had done and goes on about how he has shielded man and this is how they repay him; standing against him. He decides he will not stand for it anymore and wants to destroy metropolis, gotham and even the other dimension; during his speech Shazam, Yellow Lantern and the Flash walk him; and Shazam is so confused by this. He starts to talk back to Superman saying we are attacking civilians now; and that they shouldn’t do it; Superman will not listen to reason and demands that Billy (Shazam) stand down but he refuses and states that Lois wouldn’t have wanted this.

Superman killing Shazam

Superman not wanting to here the excuse again picks up Shazam by the neck; he tries to get superman to reason but the angry Kryptonian freezes his mouth shut and then uses his heat vision to melt his brain; instantly killing the young hero and dropping him to the floor. He looks around and asks if anyone else has anything to say; but they all remain quiet; he goes onto giving orders, Cyborg and Raven to take control of all media broadcasts so the world can see that he is the one in charge, Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl and Black Adam are to go with him. He asks Sinestro to prepare his ground forces and asks Lantern and Flash to get Doomsday ready for combat.

Gathering around their fallen comrade

Flash, Lantern and Grundy gather around the young dead hero; Lantern asks Grundy to take him outside; as he picks him up Flash wants one last look before the large Zombie carries him away. Feeling remorse for what had happened; the Flash tells Lantern that Shazam was right, and it wasn’t right for him to die because he stood up for what he thought Superman believed in. Flash states that he let himself believe that they were making things better but he was wrong and decides to leave; Lantern tries to reason with him but the Flash wants out, he tries to stop him but Flash will is resolved and he takes down Yellow Lantern; Grundy soon enters and he takes him out too and escapes the Fortress of Solitude.

Flash being flung away by Sinestro

He begins to run down to the Insurgency’s base but on his way he notices Sinestro’s energy in the distance; he goes off to see what is happening and sees him making a speech that any Insurgence must be stopped immediately and without remorse. Flash overhearing this charges through all his men and steals their guns so that the captured Insurgence’s cannot come to harm; Flash stands up to Sinestro but he locks him in a trap and throws him to Wayne Manor.

Sinestro follows quickly and takes on the Flash for leaving the Regime; but the Flash quickly takes control of the situation and takes Sinestro down. He seals him in a pyramid to slow him down and not be able to catch up with him quickly; then charges off to the Insurgency hide out.

Flash surprised and happy to see Green Arrow alive

Green Arrow; is preparing his Arrows for the battle ahead and talking to Black Canary’s photo; Flash runs into the room and is shocked to see Oliver alive. He asks to talk to Batman; but Green Arrow refuses to let him go and the two end up fighting; Flash proves that he is now on their side and a meeting starts to take place.  

Chapter 11 – Wonder Woman

Fights: Bane, Ares, Raven, Wonder Woman

The group start to make their final plan of action; they suggest that the main dimensions Superman should be brought over; but alternate Batman refuses and states that he is going to send the group home. Wonder Woman states that Luthor sacrificed himself; they won’t let his life go to waste and that he shouldn’t allow what Superman has done here to cloud his judgement as their Superman is different.

Ares brings Wonder Woman to him

At this point many of the Regime break into the Insurgency’s base and begin to battle with them; Wonder Woman encounters Bane and deflects all the bullets he shoots at her and beats him to a pulp; but as she is about to handcuff him, she is teleported away to Themyscira by Ares who just wants to talk to her. Knowing that it could easily be a trick she battles the war god and takes victory over him.

Wonder Woman learns what happened to the Amazon's

Ares begins to reveal why he brought her there and shows that her amazons work for superman because Wonder Woman is his second in command. She can’t believe that is happening and Ares asks her to go and deal with it; but she is cautious as she knows the battle will give him back his strength; she agrees to the plan but before she can deal with it Raven shows up. Ares teleports away at the request of Wonder Woman and she does battle with Raven and claims victory over her as well.

The two Wonder Woman's do battle

The alternate dimension Wonder Woman begins to prepare her amazons for battle; preparing ships and weapons. Until the main Wonder Woman appears and demands that she stand down as she has let one man take control and oppress man; rather than help man as is the way of the amazons; the two begin to use their swords and shields to battle each other and eventually come down into a huge fight that leaves Superman’s second in command out of action. She now takes control of this dimension Amazons and at the right time as Superman is launching an attack on Metropolis and the other cities.

Superman levelling a bridge with civilians on it

Using his super powered soldiers; doomsday and himself he begins to devastate the city; the other heroes appear and do their best to hold off against superman’s Regime; but they appear to be far more powerful.

Chapter 12 – Superman

Fights: Batman, Black Adam, Aquaman, Doomsday, Superman

The chapter starts differently than the others; it starts off with Batman wanting to call over Superman from his dimension; but the alternate dimension Batman refuses as his judgement is clouded by his hatred for what this Superman has done and wants to send the others home. The two fight it out and eventually he agrees to bring over Superman to help out.

Batman grateful to see Superman

Batman and Superman begin to talk about a battle plan; whilst the other Batman stays his distance. They decide to work together to limit the amount of casualties and Superman says he will take Doomsday elsewhere as that will be a long fight; he then asks if Batman has any other information; but Batman just replies ‘it may be out of context but it’s good to have you back’.

The rest of the heroes and villains continue to do battle; Black Adam picks up a car and is about to hit Aquaman with it; until Superman appears and asks that they stand down. Black Adam doesn’t take kindly to this and goes to punch Superman but he blocks it and sends him flying; with more rage Black Adam begins to throw cars to which Superman manages to blow up and hit Adam numerous times before they get down to a proper fight; with Superman claiming his first victory.

Hal gives his yellow power ring to Superman

Sinestro appears and begins to hit Superman with a giant mace; others look on in shock as the evil Lantern laughs; but he has missed. Superman appears behind him and takes his ring and states to Hal Jordan that if he has any decency he will remove his ring as well; which he does.

The scene then cuts to Insurgency troops running away from a large tidal wave being pushed by Aquaman who is leading his Atlantians through the streets of Metropolis; but with his freeze breath, Superman manages to take control of the situation and throws the wave away. Aquaman furious at this asks if Superman is ready to take on the might of Atlantis; to which he replies ‘Yes; WE are’ as Wonder Woman leading the Amazons appears on the buildings and they deal with all the Atlantian troops. Aquaman becomes enraged and attacks Superman; but he isn’t too concerned and takes out the alternate Aquaman with ease.

Amazon's vs Atlantian's

Superman and Wonder Woman begin to talk and joke as he comments on how easy she makes it look; but before he can continue a large truck hits him from the side and he is blasted through several buildings. Doomsday then lifts the truck and tries to devour Superman but he uses his heat vision to stun him and then grabs him and flies them both to the fortress of Solitude where they can do battle without any casualties. It is a tough fight but he manages to get through it.

Superman takes Doomsday to the Fortress of Solitude

This dimensions Superman appears and they begin to argue about what has happened here; that he is supposed to be its protector but he has enslaved man for his own madness. The alternate Superman begins to state that after he has killed the main Superman that he will go to their world and bring Lois back; but doesn’t think that she would be terrified at what she sees but Superman refuses to let that happen and manages to defeat his evil counterpart for the good of the world.

Superman takes down his evil counterpart and the others arrive

The Ending

After the battle; Superman states that in the same situation it would have done to same to the main Superman; before the rest of the Insurgency turn up and decide to lock him away for good. All the Regime members are locked up for what they have done; including Flash who goes willingly. Cyborg looks on at Luthors grave and rests flowers there to show his respect for willingly giving his life; and Superman is locked away in a cell surrounded by lights that represent red suns to quell his powers. Superman and the alternate Batman talk and mention that in the same situation he would have done the same; Batman promises that if he ever does go dark he will come and find him and take him down  and states that he will send them all home.

As the two walk off; it zooms in on Superman’s cage and his eyes begin to glow; before the credits roll.

Superman's Eyes glowing before the credits roll

Overview on who is on who’s side

After the events of the story it can get confusing as who is with who in terms of the story so here is a list of characters from both dimensions that are on each side. The alternate dimension characters will be marked with a *

Insurgency: Batman*, Green Arrow*, Haryley Quinn* Batman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Lex Luthor*, Superman, The Flash* (after story point), Death Stroke*, Cyborg

Regime: Superman*, Wonder Woman*, Shazam*, Black Adam*, Killer Frost*, Raven*, Cyborg*, Bane*, Aquaman*, Doomsday*, Solomon Grundy*, Yellow Lantern*, Sinestro*, The Flash* (until story point), Cat Woman*, Hawkgirl*, Nightwing*

Working for themselves: Ares*, The Joker

Game Modes

There are a few game modes to choose from within Injustice; as well as Story Mode, the player can select Battle mode; this is similar to the ladders in Mortal Kombat, where the player has to fight their way to the top.

Story Mode

As covered above; this is one of the primary modes of the game; that allows the player to go through the story at their own pace; giving them a continue and select chapter function as well if they just want to replay specific parts.

Battle Mode

However with this mode there are numerous modes the player can do it as. The first three are already unlocked at the start and the rest are unlocked via level up or using access cards in the archives. These are

• Classic - defeat randomly chosen heroes and villains; receive ending at the end
• Heroes - defeat randomly chosen heroes
• Villains - defeat randomly chosen villains
• Poisoned - Health constantly depleating
• Survivor - Health carries over from match to match; obtain bonus health to survive
• Mirror Match - Fight as your opponent in a series of mirror matches
• Mystery - Each match gives a different buff or debuff
• Fully Charged - Both you and the opponent have a full super meter but super moves are disabled
• Combo Heaven - Perform a combo of the required number to win
• Help from above - your opponents health recovers to full every 30 seconds
• Injured - begin each match with only one quarter of your health
• Give and Take - each attack gives you or your opponent health; win before time runs out
• Sidekick - fight two opponents per fight
• Speed Run - defeat all opponents in 2 minutes
• Random fighter - fight each opponent with a random hero or villain
• Countdown - defeat each opponent in under 30 seconds
• Unstoppable - defeat all opponents without losing
• The max - 1 chance to defeat all opponents on max difficulty
• Full House - defeat the entire cast of Injustice
• Impossible - defeat the entire cast of injustice with a single health bar

This gives the player numerous options to choose from and isn’t just select a difficulty and go through it; they add a bit more depth and challenge that the player can take upon themselves if they wish.

Battle Mode selection

By doing the classic fight; the player can unlock individual character endings; however these can be quite strange as they only have one each and it can clash with what the characters default appearance is and cover the alternate dimension version. Such as Nightwing’s ending. Ideally they should have done two endings based on the normal dimension and the alternate dimension.

S.T.A.R Labs

Like the tower mode in the latest Mortal Kombat; these are special missions that sort of add a side story to the game. The player only initially has access to around four or five missions and all of them Supermans; but by completing them and doing the extra missions within them; they get access to more and more.

A look at the S.T.A.R Labs mission select

Each character has a total of 10 missions each; giving a total of 240 missions. Each mission has three submissions as well that can range from taking out the enemy to doing the entire stage backwards; for each of these submissions the player completes they receive a star. The aim is to get as many stars as possible to unlock more and more missions; the last mission needs a total of 240 stars to do; which is Ares’s last mission. Each mission has a total of three stars they can get; so overall the player can achieve 720 stars.

Some of the missions are quite interesting as they each have a little story to go with them; for instance Superman is going after Lex Luthor; Batman has to hunt down all the villains and put them back in Arkham Asylum; and Cat Woman is trying to find information out to try and sneak into the Bat Cave to steal the Bat Mobile.

Some interesting missions of note are Superman using his powers to protect a citizen from rolling barrels and floating robots; the player must input the right combination of buttons to protect him. Cat Woman has a mission where the player controls her cat Isis through a museum and the player must get through without being spotted.

Sneaking through the Museum as Isis

The player doesn’t have to do these missions in order; nor do they have to get all the stars in one go; as for some missions it is impossible. For instance for Catwomans missions; 1 star might be to get to the end; the second to do the stage backwards and the third to not move backwards at all; so the player will have to redo it to get different stars.  

Successfully obtaining all three stars in a mission

Single Battle

This is a simple mode; where they player selects a character, an opponent, a difficulty and a stage and takes them on for one battle. Then the player must select the characters etc. Again; whilst not fully needed, it is nice for the players to do a versus mode style scenario with the CPU.

Training

A mode that allows players to practice against any selected character to see what combos they want to do and learn more. Most fighters have this and it’s a good way for the players to get used to the combat a bit easily; they can also set up the opponent to be AI controlled so they can practice their play style against a moving opponent.

Versus Mode

A usual mode that allows two players to fight against each other whilst in the same room

Wifi Versus

Allows players from all over the world to play against each other; comes in handy to play against friends when they are not together. The player is able to rank up as they go and become to the top of the ladder etc.

Archives

This is a section that allows players to unlock content and view it; they are able to unlock music, costumes, battle game modes, character and environment concept art. By levelling up from battles the player is given access and armour cards that they use to unlock these respectively.

It is a great way of doing it and it gives the player something to aim for; especially when you get to see the models in all their glory in unique poses.

 

A look at Nightwing's new 52 model in the Archieve

Presentation

The game is very well presented; the environments look great, they use the right colours to amplify their dark and dreary side, especially in Gotham and the ruined Metropolis. It uses a lot of correct lighting and overall looks very impressive in terms of what it is.

Using the mechanics to destroy the environments helps add to this whole point of people of such power fighting that the areas are getting destroyed with ease. These can be distracting though during fights so it is best to keep a good focus on the characters if possible. 

Destroyed Environment damage

The major problem Nether Realm has is that there females are far too manly looking; a couple have gotten away with it this time, Killer Frost and Harley Quinn; possibly Hawk Girl. But Wonder Woman and Raven’s facial features are far too manly looking and it looks very strange, although Wonder Womans physique is quite strong looking; it just doesn’t look right. The rest of the characters look fine however and use some interesting costume choices especially for those divided into the Regime. Supermans default being his usual look and then having an extremely dark blue costume with darkened eyes etc. This can be seen with Nightwing as well; with his usual Blue Costume as Dick Grason in the main dimension for his default attire; then the Regime Nightwing having long hair and the red suit and being Damian Wayne.

Very broad Wonder Woman

Using the stage transition feature; the characters can be knocked into new areas; this can sometimes include different characters such as Killer Croc; the Penguin etc Although it is a nice way to put other DC characters in as well as in the backgrounds; it can look odd when the characters start interacting with them because they are of different heights and builds so often they won’t connect properly.

Stage transition at Arkham Asylum

One bad design flaw with one of the environments; especially during the story, is having Doomsday in one of the backgrounds and also having him playable or as an opponent. With Mortal Kombat if this happened then the character who was in the background would not be there anymore and would be stood fighting the player. In this however Doomsday is both in the background and as the Opponent; this is slightly annoying especially in story mode as Superman has to fight Doomsday; with Doomsday the same in the background.

Superman fighting Doomsday in story mode with Doomsday in the background

There are a few errors with capes getting stuck in the air sometimes but mostly they are fine and move the correct way. Other than that no other glitches have appeared; they have done a good job of incorporating the characters into the environments and getting the right feel from the game that they wanted.

Music and Voices

The music in this game is superb; it fights the environments extremely well and any scenes that are shown; it adds to the dramatic nature of the game and adds an air of darkness and sadness to a lot of its tracks; especially during sad scenes such as the Death of Shazam, it was a piece that really tugged at the heart strings of the player especially with him only really being a young boy that changes into a man; seeing the Flash so upset afterwards helps personify this scene as well.

The music fits the games style and isn’t too overpowering during the fights as some soundtracks can be and allows the player to fight without the music distracting them too much.

The voices work well with all the characters and a lot use the voices they have done in other games or TV shows; such as Cyborg. The only downside is that Mark Hamel isn’t doing the jokers voice; but one good thing is that with the Arrow dlc costume they actually got Stephen Amell to come and voice the costume; so it isn’t the same voice doing both Green Arrow’s. A lot of time and effort went into doing the voices and it is clearly evident from a great performance each actor and actress gives during the story mode. The only one that doesn't really suit is Ravens but with Tara Strong doing Harley's voice there wasn't much they could do. 

Game Mechanics

Being a fighter; Injustice uses a lot of what other Mortal Kombat games have used before; but it does some of it in a good way; whilst introducing certain features that make it slightly unique.

The main controls are the usual; for this review; it’ll be based on the PS3 controls. L1 is used for throws, R1 is used to use environmental objects; X is a heavy attack, Square is a light mid attack, triangle is a light high attack, and circle is a special ability depending on the character; for instance Wonder Woman can switch between her Lasso or Sword and Shield to fight; Doomsday gets a shield that reduces damage and push back. R2 and L2 together will perform the characters super move when the gauge is full. R2 along with a special move input will use some of the super gauge to upgrade the special move into a more powerful version; although it only works for a select few moves. By using the directional buttons or analog stick the player can use different moves etc. Pressing and holding back the player will block.

Matches work differently as well compared to most fighters; each character has two health bars and the player must defeat the opponent using this; unlike Mortal Kombat where if you win one round your health recovers; in Injustice, it does not recover and you instantly go to the second round with however Health you had remaining in the last round. This is the same for the opponent as well.

If the player is in the correct spot on a stage; they can do a stage transition by pressing back and X on the ps3 controller and hitting their opponent; the character hit will fly back and receive a lot of damage as they move onto the next area. Not all stages have these transitions but they do come in handy for dealing a lot damage to the opponent.

One of the things this game suffers from; and it seems to be an increasing trend with a lot of fighters; is that there is a balancing issue straight off the bat. For instance Doomsday gets a shield that protects him for a short period of time, Grundy has unblockable grabs and for a split instance he is unstoppable; the Green Lantern is capable of doing a 93% hit combo and is the only one able to do so. Patches will arrive to fix these but its something that should have been in the game to begin with; but as stated earlier, it seems to be an increasing trend. This was also done for Soul Calibur 5 and Playstation All Stars Battle Royale. 

On the Atlantis stage; when the player gets to either end of the stage they cannot use the stage transition; however they can use the interactable environment trigger ‘R1’; by pressing this button the player will either turn the valve to release a jet of water or punch the tank and release all the water; causing a lot of damage to the opponent. This is all dependant on the type of character you are using and also effects how other areas work. If the character is in the middle of the stage and they press R1 and hit the enemy they will knock them against an area in the background to cause damage; but this isn’t for all stages but it does work for all characters. However for large objects that be interacted with; it depends on the character. On the Metropolis stage there is a car to the left side of the screen; a light character such as Nightwing can flip off it and over his opponent; Death Stroke will flip off it and plant a bomb on it so it blows up after he flips over the enemy; Lex Luthor will pick up the car and hit his opponent with it. So three different types of actions can occur; objects in the work slightly different and can get a different action from what they did on the ground. Luthor will still pick up the objects and smash them against his opponent; lighter characters will either jump off it and kick or swing across the area and for objects that are picked up and thrown; a bomb is placed on them. So it works differently based on the object being used rather than based on the character themselves.

Killer Frost turning the water wheel at Atlantis

Another system that was put in place for fights is the Wager system. If the player and the opponent clash based on what they used against each other they will go into a wager moment; where they have to bet how much super meter to use in order to win the clash. The one that uses more is the one that wins. It comes in two modes; attack and defence; the attacker will do damage based on how much super meter was used if they win, the defender will recover health depending on how much super meter was used if they win. If both use the same amount of the super meter they will draw and neither will receive damage or health. However the issue with this system is that it makes players not want to use their super meter so they can win these wagers; they always seem to happen after using any of your meter and the opponent has a full meter so they win and you have to waste time dealing more damage to them again.

 

Green Arrow and Hawkgirl as they clash 

Super moves occur when the character has a full meter and press R2/L2 together; these can be blocked so it is best to use them in the right situation; such as hitting the enemy first before attempting it to make sure they are stunned from the previous attack. Some require the character to be in a specific position like Green Arrows; it should only be used if the opponent is slightly further away; if they are too close or too far it will miss automatically. They come in handy during difficult situations but as mentioned above; it is harder to use them with the Wager system as it will be likely that after the player has used it they will go into a Wager situation and lose. 

Shazam performing his supermove on Doomsday

In story mode; there are some points where the player has to do specific inputs to either protect themselves from damage or deal damage to their opponent before the fight.

• Batman: throw batmerangs at Luthor and knock him back before he gets too close
• Green Lantern: Before the battle against Sinestro, input buttons to block his attacks; and then press buttons rapidly during the chainsaw scene to deal damage to him
• The Joker: Throw cards at Nightwing by pressing the correct buttons on the cards; dealing damage to him each time the sequence is done right
• Green Arrow: Fire arrows at Grundy as he gets closer to knock him back; shoot the objects he throws to stop getting damaged
• Batman: Block all of Green Arrow’s Arrows
• Wonder Woman: enter the correct button sequence to block all of Bane’s bullets
• Superman: Press the correct buttons to stop the cars with Laser Eyes that Black Adam throws and eventually shoot him

Green Arrow shooting Grundy 

Is it a Challenge?

Injustice is definitely a challenging game; it requires the player to be focused at all time otherwise they will end up losing easily. This is especially evident in battles modes even on normal difficulty; the fights start off easy and get more difficult as they; once the player gets to around the last three battles; they will start to use more of their super bar to perform extended super moves that can cause a lot of problems.

Along with this; giving the player the option to fight every character, on the hardest difficulty with only one chance, it is a heck of a challenge that a lot of players will want to try and achieve.

The S.T.A.R Labs missions add a different challenge to the game that is different to that of the regular battles as they introduce different elements that make them all unique and interesting.

In saying that the game is a challenge; the game is still playable and that the challenge is actually do able; unlock in Soul Calibur 5 where you could spend hours just trying to do one battle. It can get a bit too much at times; when you have fought many battles beforehand.

Overall Scores

Story Score – 7/10 – Overall the story is predictable in that they used the alternate dimension excuse to make Superman evil; a future scenario would have been much better and made it more interesting in that regard. However the darkness behind the story and the events that transpired during it were fantastic; the part where Superman killed Captain Marvel was not expected and it really helped put everything into perspective for the Flash. Although the ending wasn’t anything impressive; it has left it open for a sequel; so it will be interesting to see where they go with it. As a fighter it is nice to have a story there even if it’s not overly impressive; this story had a mix of good and bad points.

Game Modes Score – 8/10 – there are many options for the player to choose from; not just battle and that’s it; if the player wants to challenge themselves they can use the battle modes to attempt that or go online and face against other players etc. If they want to practice they can use single battle or training. If they want to have some fun they can do the S.T.A.R lab missions. However in saying this; it only got an 8 because there does feel like it is missions something; but as the first in the series it works fine and can be added to in future instalments.

Presentation Score – 7/10 – A very well presented game but a few things let it down; such as the character models for females and the environments being a bit too busy; whilst they are good they can be a bit distracting. The ability to throw characters through to different areas is a nice way of showing off other characters such as Killer Croc etc. But the errors with the models when interacting can be a bit strange when you see them. Generally it is a nice looking game though.

Music and Voices Score – 9/10 – A fantastic score as with most DC universe based games and a superb cast of actors and actresses; that give this game a well deserved performance during the story mode and just overall.

Game Mechanics Score – 7.5/10 – Adding the ability to interact with environment points was a good way to change it up from Mortal Kombat and give the player more to work with and not just the character. The wagers system could use some work but overall it makes sense for the game. Combat is as is to be expected with any fighter. Due to the Unbalanced characters it doesn't really deserve more than an 7 but other factors take it up to an 8

Challenge Score – 7/10 – The game gives a lot of challenge for the player to overcome and enough modes to allow them to practice so they can get it done. However sometimes the challenge can get a bit too difficult; especially after fighting numerous battles beforehand, so at some points its best to quit whilst you are ahead. It is a game that does require patience but you are rewarded for it.

Feel Score – 7/10 – The game gives a lot in terms of presentation, gameplay available, the ability to interact with the environments and gives the player a good challenge and with a superb soundtrack; it is only let down due to obvious story points and flaws with the models etc that can take the player out of the immersion. However using the dark side of the story; it leaves the player wanting to learn more and keep them immersed until they complete it.

Overall Score – 7.5/10